H is face doesn’t appear in the movie
Phantom, but Ken Sewell’s hands are all over it.

The 60-year- old Navy veteran and Gahanna resident is credited as a technical consultant for
the Cold War submarine drama, to open on Friday in theaters nationwide.

The title provides a catchall phrase for someone who, among other duties:

• Wrote a book that helped inspire the script.

• Built a 23-foot scale model of a Soviet submarine in his garage to support the addition of
special effects.

• Advised actors, including Ed Harris and David Duchovny, on how submariners negotiate cramped
quarters.

• Played plumber and electrician one day when water was filling the sub.

“Ken was a tremendous contributor,” said Todd Robinson, writer and director.“We could not have
made the movie without him.”

Sewell spent five years in the 1970s as a crewman on the USS Parche sub, whose missions included
top-secret work.

After leaving the military in 1979, Sewell — a 1970 graduate of Walnut Ridge High School —
maintained his fascination with the subject of the undersea Cold War.

His first book —
Red Star Rogue, published in 2005 — details the mysterious sinking of the Soviet sub K-129
in 1968 in the Pacific.

Sewell theorizes that some crew members “went rogue” and were bent on attacking the Hawaiian
Islands with a nuclear missile. Somehow, the effort was thwarted, resulting in an explosion that
destroyed the vessel.

The book caught the eye of Robinson, who had also been researching the event.

“I had been interested in this story for many years, and that eventually led me to Ken, who has
an interesting take on it,” he said. “This movie is sort of inspired by
Red Star Rogue, but it is a work of fiction.”

In October 2011, Sewell traveled to San Diego for 16 days of filming inside the former Soviet
submarine B-39, which is owned by the Maritime Museum of San Diego.

Harris, who plays the hero, is “one of the most intense people I’ve met,” said Sewell, adding
that he found Duchovny, the film’s villain, “an interesting, smart guy.”

Robinson was glad to have Sewell on hand, he said, when the crew showed up to the sub one day
and found the boat listing “about 15 degrees.”

A crew member had accidentally turned off a pump the previous day, and the boat was taking on
water.

“Ken put on a set of coveralls and climbed into some nasty holes,” Robinson recalled. “He got
the electricity going; then the pump was going by noon.”

Another of Sewell’s unexpected roles involved hobnobbing with the movie’s investors — who saw
the budget rise during production, ultimately landing at $18 million, according to producer Pen
Densham.

“If we had guests on set, we would put them with Ken, if he was available, because he loves to
talk,” Densham said. “You realize you’re talking to a man who has been on sub missions and risked
his life, and he talks about these experiences with a clarity and an objectiveness that’s
amazing.

“And yet, for a clandestine warrior, he is the tamest, warmest guy you’ve ever met.”

Sewell said he made a brief appearance as a guard in one scene, which was cut.

When filming in the sub’s interior was finished, a scale model of the sub was needed to shoot
the special-effects scenes in a tank. Some, but not all, of the effects are computer-generated.

A studio wanted $1 million to provide a suitable model, Sewell said.

“We sort of gasped, like ‘You’ve got to be kidding,’ ” he said. “I have a tendency to open my
mouth and keep volunteering, so I said I could build the model myself.”

He returned to Gahanna and spent four months fashioning the model out of wood, fiberglass and
PVC pipe.

“Boy, did I have hell to pay with my wife (Nancy) because her car had to sit outside all winter,
with the model in the garage,” Sewell said. “So every day I had to scrape her windshield and warm
it up for her.”

Last week, Sewell flew to California to take part in promotional events for the film — including
the red-carpet premiere on Wednesday in Hollywood.

He called the making of
Phantom “a great experience.” “I’m glad I did it.”

Densham, the producer, said the feeling is mutual.

“Ken is a Renaissance man,” he said. “He’s not just a writer; he’s a creator and technician.

“In our business, you get to meet an extraordinary range of human beings, but Ken goes up there
on a high shelf.”